Significant Figures
800 Years of the Mathematical Sciences
Published on 1. February 2000
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-0-19-852309-3 (ISBN)
Description
This is the story of the intellectual and social life of a community, and of its interactions with the wider world. For 800 years mathematics has been researched and studied at Oxford, and the subject and its teaching have undergone profound changes during that time. This highly readable and beautifully illustrated book reveals the richness and influence of Oxford's mathematical tradition and the fascinating characters who helped to shape it. The story begins with the founding of the university of Oxford and the establishing of the medieval curriculum, in which mathematics had an important role. The Black Death, the advent of printing, the founding of the university of Cambridge, and the Newtonian revolution all had a great influence on the later development of mathematics at Oxford. So too did many well-known figures: Robert Boyle, Christopher Wren, Edmond Halley, Benjamin Jowett, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, G. H. Hardy, to name but a few. Later chapters bring us to the twentieth century, and the book ends with some entertaining reminiscences by Sir Michael Atiyah of the thirty years he spent as an Oxford mathematician.
Reviews / Votes
The book successfully combines good scholarship with attractive general presentation. Zentralblatt MathMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 196 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
860 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-852309-3 (9780198523093)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Content
800 years of Oxford mathematics [Alfred the Great, Roger Bacon, Christopher Wren, Edmond Halley, Florence Nightingale, G. H. Hardy, Roger Penrose]; Medieval Oxford [Richard of Wallingford, Robert Grosseteste, Thomas Bradwardine]; Renaissance Oxford [Henry Savile, Thoms Harriot, Henry Briggs]; Mathematical Instruments [Robert Boyle, Edmund Hunter, Robert Hooke]; The Mid-Seventeenth Century [Christopher Wren, John Locke, Robert Hooke]; John Wallis [Seth Ward, Thoms Hobbes, Robert Wood]; Edmond Halley [Isaac Newton, John Flamsteed, David Gregory]; Oxford's Newtonian school [James Bradley, John Whiteside, John Keill]; Georgian Oxford [James Stirling, Nathaniel Bliss, Stephen Rigaud, William Gladstone]; Thomas Hornsby and the Radcliffe Observatory [John Radcliffe, John Bird, James Bradley]; The Mid-Nineteenth Century [Baden Powell, Henry Smith, Charles Darwin, Benjamin Jowett, Florence Nightingale, Francis Galton, Charles Dodgson, Bartholomew Price]; Henry Smith [Frederick Temple, Charles Hermite, Hermann Minkowski]; James Joseph Sylvester [Arthur Cayley, Augustus de Morgan, David Hilbert, Felix Klein]; The Twentieth Century [William Esson, G.H. Hardy, E.C. Titchmarsh, Henry Whitehead, Charles Coulston]; Some Personal Reminiscences; Appendix's Mathematical Chair; References